Family: Heartache in LA
by victoriamartynne
Summary: Sequel to Family: Back to Sunnydale, Family: Forward to LA, Family: Return to Sunnydale, Family: On to LA and Family: Wedding in LA. In the aftermath of Cordelia and Angel's wedding, their happiness is ruined by one man from Angel's past determined to rui
1. Chapter One

Title: Family: Heartache in LA  
  
Author: victoriamartynne  
  
Rating: R  
  
Disclaimer: I own nothing!  
  
Spoilers: None, I think!  
  
Summary: Sequel to Family: Back to Sunnydale, Family: Forward to LA, Family: Return to Sunnydale, Family: On to LA and Family: Wedding in LA. In the aftermath of Cordelia and Angel's wedding, their happiness is ruined by one man from Angel's past determined to ruin their lives forever.  
  
Part One  
  
Angel chased a laughing Connor around the lobby closely followed by Cordelia, who was walking with Ashleigh in her arms.  
  
"What time is everyone getting here?" Angel asked, scooping Connor up into his arms.  
  
"Buffy and Spike said they'd be here at seven. Faith and Wes are getting here at quarter to and Fred and Gunn are coming a little after. Lorne is already here."  
  
"I didn't see him."  
  
"You were too busy trying to teach our son how to play football when he can only just walk." She pointed out.  
  
He turned and smiled at her, causing her to smile back.  
  
"He looks like he's going to have a really good catch." He argued.  
  
"Don't think for one moment I've forgotten the time you swiped my credit card and bought all the miniature hockey stuff, which by the way we still have somewhere."  
  
He smiled. "He did look cute in that."  
  
"He did, and no Ashleigh will not, so don't get any ideas!" She warned playfully.  
  
"We could get her matching bows."  
  
She pulled a face. "I'm going to go get the food ready." She gave Ashleigh to him.  
  
"Are you cooking?" Lorne asked, coming in from the courtyard, hoping the answer was no.  
  
"No, I'm opening and reheating takeaway boxes." She told him with a smile. "I was always dip girl back in high school because that was the only thing I could make. You know all the opening and stirring, that was my thing."  
  
"She does know that doesn't actually involve cooking?" Lorne asked Angel.  
  
"The nearest she gets to cooking is making popcorn and blood in the microwave. It's when she puts blood on the popcorn that I get worried."  
  
Lorne shuddered and took Connor off Angel, who then squeezed his green fingers to stop himself from sliding off Lorne's satin slippery suit. "Wow, kid, you could be a football player with a grip like that!"  
  
"I heard that!" Cordelia shouted from the kitchen.  
  
Cordelia went to change into a black strapless dress at half past six ready for when their guests would arrive. Faith had asked her if she could use the lobby for a small dinner party to celebrate her moving into Wes's. She'd tried having her own apartment but had spent more and more time at his place until it had seemed more logical for her to move in with him and pay only his rent.  
  
So now, two months after she'd gotten her own place she was moving into Wes's.  
  
Cordelia had offered to make the food, or rather order the food, and Buffy and Spike were coming up to LA especially for the occasion.  
  
She'd only just come back downstairs when Buffy and Spike arrived, closely followed by the star couple.  
  
Angel played host, making sure everyone had drinks and were happy. It was a role that he found he quite liked.  
  
Cordelia was discussing with Faith and Buffy about how to turn a masculine apartment, or room into a more feminine place, leaving Angel to talk to Spike, Lorne and Wes about demons.  
  
Fred and Gunn arrived meaning they could sit down and eat.  
  
"So, who's going to the McDougle's tomorrow to clear out the Nestar demons?" Wes asked, chewing on a Spicy Chicken Wing.  
  
"I will." Gunn volunteered. "I'm in the mood for a little slice and dice."  
  
"Who else, there really should be two going?"  
  
"No sewer access." Angel counted himself out.  
  
"I don't mind going." Faith told him.  
  
"Or I could." Cordelia added. "Oh, no, I have to take Ashleigh to the clinic for her check-up."  
  
"Gunn and Faith it is then." Wes declared.  
  
"Anyone want to see the new Jackie Chan film?" Gunn asked.  
  
"I won't go with him." Fred explained the reason he was asking.  
  
"Sounds good." Spike showed interest. "I quite like Jackie Chan."  
  
"Sorry honey, we're leaving in the morning." Buffy told him, touching his arm.  
  
"I guess not then."  
  
They mostly talked about idle things until they were interrupted by a man coming into the hotel.  
  
Cordelia stood up and went across. "Can I help you?"  
  
He nodded. "I need your help."  
  
"What can we do for you?" She beckoned him further into the hotel but he didn't move.  
  
"I'm afraid there is a problem outside. Can I show you?"  
  
"Of course." She followed him outside. "What's the problem?"  
  
His hand clamped down on her mouth, stifling a scream and she smelt something sweet.  
  
Feeling woozy she slumped into his arms, unconscious.  
  
Whilst Cordelia had been talking to them man and all of the gang's attention had been half on them and half on the conversation, another man slipped into the hotel unnoticed.  
  
He went into the office where the children were.  
  
He went over to the boy and picked him up.  
  
The other one started crying and he heard footsteps. Gently he put the boy back and hid behind the door until the footsteps had stopped and left again.  
  
He picked the boy back up and hid him under his coat.  
  
Creeping back out of the office he left through the back door.  
  
Cordelia awoke lying in the back of a car. She kicked it open and climbed out. She seemed to be under the freeway somewhere. There was a lot of dust and she could see two men stood under an arch a little way away. She set off at a run and then reconsidered.  
  
She had her phone tucked in her bra at the side, she never knew when there might be an emergency. She pulled it out and dialled the hotel.  
  
"Cordy?" Angel's worried voice came instantly on the line.  
  
"Yeah, it's me, I've been kidnapped, I'm under the freeway somewhere."  
  
"Which one?"  
  
"I don't know. I think I'm somewhere near the pier."  
  
"We'll find you." He reassured her and then paused. "Cor, they've got Connor too."  
  
"What?" She exclaimed, too loudly, because the men heard her and turned around. It was then she saw Connor, bundled up in one of the men's arms. "I see him."  
  
"We'll come find you Cordelia, I promise."  
  
"Be quick." She hung up and threw her phone onto the floor to start and fight the man who had run up to capture her.  
  
She flipped him over and onto the floor with ease and ran towards Connor.  
  
"Get away from me girl, or the baby dies." The man threatened. Behind her she could see Lilah, a gun in her hand.  
  
"Of course, something bad happens and you're here, why is that?" Cordelia spat.  
  
"Who are you?" She asked the man.  
  
"Daniel Holtz, pleased to meet you." The man replied in clipped English tones. "And you are?"  
  
"I'm that baby's mother, now give him to me, you're scaring him!"  
  
The man laughed at her. "His mother, how charming, but Darla was his mother, don't you remember?"  
  
That made Cordelia angrier.  
  
The man she had flipped onto the ground suddenly tackled her to the floor.  
  
"Get off of me!" She screamed and bit him.  
  
Holtz raise both arms in the air and a portal opened.  
  
Cordelia got the man off her and advanced on Holtz.  
  
"Thanks for your help!" He shouted to Lilah, who nodded.  
  
Holtz shoved Cordelia, sending her backwards and away from the portal, onto her knees.  
  
"No!" She screamed, her voice echoing. "No!"  
  
He looked at her for a moment and then ran into the portal with her baby. The portal closed behind him.  
  
"No!" She screamed over and over.  
  
Lilah looked at her and then got into her car, leaving her lying in the dirt sobbing.  
  
"No." She whispered, her voice coming out in gasps due to the lack of air. She was hyperventilating. "Connor, please. please!"  
  
Angel's car pulled up and he and Faith jumped out. Angel stopped in his tracks when he saw Cordelia alone.  
  
"Where's Connor?" He asked, his voice hard with fear.  
  
Faith came to kneel next to Cordelia.  
  
She looked up at Angel, her eyes puffy and bloodshot and tear tracks covering her cheeks. "A portal. Holtz got him. he jumped. and it closed. and Connor was crying. and I couldn't. I couldn't."  
  
Her voice broke and she began sobbing uncontrollably.  
  
Angel's face closed off in pain, his emotions hidden. He felt like someone had just ripped out his heart. His fist slammed into the side of his car hard, startling both Cordelia and Faith.  
  
Cordelia was breathing heavily, her chest rising and falling dramatically.  
  
"Angel." Faith warned him, eyeing Cordelia's condition critically. "Maybe we need to."  
  
"What we need is to get my son back!" He spun around and shouted to her.  
  
"What we need is to get her to a hospital." Faith interrupted.  
  
Cordelia's head snapped up. "Your son? He's my son. I lost him."  
  
"We need to get him back!" He shouted. "How did you lose him?"  
  
"Holtz. he took him." She was still crying and panicking.  
  
She stood up, wobbling, but Faith held her up.  
  
"Angel?" She held out a hand to him.  
  
"Get in the car." He told her and Faith guided her.  
  
Cordelia's heart broke at the tone he was using with her.  
  
Faith got her in the back of the car and climbed in next to her.  
  
"Go to the hospital." She ordered.  
  
"I'm going home and figuring out a way to get Connor back." Angel told her, driving too fast.  
  
"Go to the damn hospital before I have to beat your ass down and drive there myself!"  
  
Faith ordered sharply.  
  
Angel dropped them off at the hospital but didn't wait with them.  
  
Faith had her arm around Cordelia, holding her up as she had now began to sob again, the anger at Holtz, the grief of losing Connor and the heartbreak of the tone Angel was using with her all circling in her head.  
  
"Calm down, breathe!" Faith told her. "Doctor!"  
  
"It's my fault. he hates me. I killed my son. he hates me." She rambled between her tears, almost not breathing with the emotions of the past half hour.  
  
A doctor came running towards them and had her on a stretcher and sedated within moments.  
  
He left her with Faith for a moment so he could fill in a chart.  
  
"Are you okay?" She asked, touching her hand briefly.  
  
She shook her head. "I keep seeing his face."  
  
"Connor's?"  
  
She nodded, a tear slipping down her face. "They drugged me, when I woke up Holtz and another man was stood with Connor under an arch. Holtz had Connor. Lilah was there too, she had a gun. Connor was crying and scared. I couldn't fight Holtz because I'd hurt Connor. A portal opened and he jumped through. Before I'd even moved it closed. He must have been so scared. If he's even alive. I let my son get killed!"  
  
Faith shook her head, fighting back tears of her own at Cordelia's heartbreaking tone.  
  
"No, you didn't. There was nothing you could have done. And although it seems like it's your fault right now, when you've calmed down a little you'll realise it wasn't your fault. I don't blame you."  
  
"Angel does. I heard what he said, he called Connor his son. That hurt me so much. Angel would never say something like that to me unless he hates me or is so mad at me that he can't bear to look at me." Cordelia whispered, her voice all but disappearing. "I failed him. I failed Connor."  
  
Faith shook her head. "No, you didn't."  
  
"I need to see Ashleigh." Cordelia suddenly said. "I need to see her, I need to see she's okay! Go get her, please go get her!"  
  
Faith nodded. "Ssh, I'll get her; you just rest like the doctor told you."  
  
"Go now?" She pleaded.  
  
Faith nodded. "I'll go now."  
  
Faith arrived back at the hotel. Everyone was gathering in the lobby. Fred and Buffy looked like they'd been crying.  
  
"She wants to see Ashleigh." She told Angel.  
  
He nodded. "She's in the office."  
  
"Are you going to go see her?"  
  
He shook his head. "Not now."  
  
"Why not?" She pressed, ignoring Wes's warning glance.  
  
He spun around to face her angrily. "Because if I see her right now I'll end up hating her! And that is not what I want to do! She let my son get killed and I will end up hating her for it! Is that good enough for you?"  
  
There was a stunned silence in the lobby but Faith hadn't finished. "Your son? That's rich! And what about Cordelia? The woman who took him and love him as her own? He is her son and she is killing herself blaming herself for what happened! I know you're hurting but so is she!"  
  
Angel glared at her but said nothing else.  
  
Spike and Gunn were discussing ways of killing Holtz in the office but left when they saw Faith advancing.  
  
Faith went into the office followed by Wes.  
  
"I don't think that was such a good idea." He told her quietly as she picked up Ashleigh and put her in her carrycot, trying not to look at the empty crib next to hers.  
  
"Wes, you haven't seen her, she's killing herself! The pain is too much for her. The guilt is smothering her!"  
  
Wes saw the tears in her eyes and dropped the subject. "Look after her for me."  
  
She nodded, kissed his cheek and left.  
  
Buffy came up to her. "I'm coming too."  
  
She nodded and the two slayers and baby left the hotel.  
  
Cordelia accepted Ashleigh with open arms. The familiarity of having a baby in her arms reminding her of Connor brought a cry out of her mouth.  
  
"We're trying to get him back." Buffy told her. "And we're not going to give in."  
  
"Where's Angel?" She asked. "Is he coming?"  
  
Faith shook her head. "Not now."  
  
"He blames me doesn't he?" She asked, knowing the answer.  
  
"No." Faith told her, at least sounding convincing.  
  
"He just wants to concentrate on getting Connor back." Buffy added.  
  
"I can't get the sound of him crying out of my head." Cordelia murmured.  
  
"We're going to get him back." Buffy insisted.  
  
Cordelia shook her head crying. "No, it's over, I know it is. You can't get him back."  
  
"We don't know that until we try." Faith insisted.  
  
Cordelia didn't believe that.  
  
They left Ashleigh with Cordelia when they went back to the hotel.  
  
She asked for some paper and a pen from one of the nurses and set about writing letters to everyone, starting with Angel.  
  
"Dear Angel,  
This letter out of all of them is probably the hardest letter I've ever had to written and I can't possibly convey the pain I am feeling right now. I know that the things that you said are only because you are angry right now and even though they hurt me I understand. I need to go away for a while; I'm not ready to see the hotel without him in t just yet. I don't know when I'll come back; I hope I will want to eventually. I just need time to work through the guilt and pain I'm feeling. I want you to know that I love you, I always will, never doubt that, and I'm so very sorry about what happened. Don't blame yourself, blame me. It was my fault and I'll live forever knowing that it was my actions that made what happened happen.  
Always Angel,  
Cordelia"  
  
She was already crying and clutching a tissue under her eyes by the time she'd finished the first letter.  
  
"Dear Faith,  
You've been a good friend to me in the past few months. A truly good friend, I just wish I'd realised that earlier. Don't let Angel blame himself, okay? Everything was my doing and my choice. I hope I see you again one day.  
Cordelia"  
  
"Dear Buffy,  
Enemies to friends, story of my life. Keep everything running smoothly for me. Don't let anyone give in just because I'm not there. I'm sorry for not saying goodbye properly; I'm not ready for that. Maybe one day.  
Cordelia"  
  
"Dear AI team,  
I'm sorry I had to go, please forgive me for everything. The password on my computer is CCHASE; the pin code on the files is 18740. Don't give in and make sure Angel takes care of himself.  
I love you all,  
Cordelia"  
  
The next morning Cordelia checked out of the hospital with Ashleigh and set out on her own, for only the second time in her life. But this time she knew, there would be no angel to help her on her way. 


	2. Chapter Two

Title: Family: Heartache in LA  
  
Author: victoriamartynne  
  
Rating: R  
  
Disclaimer: I own nothing!  
  
Spoilers: None, I think!  
  
Summary: Sequel to Family: Back to Sunnydale, Family: Forward to LA, Family: Return to Sunnydale, Family: On to LA and Family: Wedding in LA. In the aftermath of Cordelia and Angel's wedding, their happiness is ruined by one man from Angel's past determined to ruin their lives forever.  
  
Part Two Cordelia walked into the apartment and flung her bag on the kitchen table.  
  
"Baby, I'm home! Did you have a good day at school?" She eyed the mess on the counter with trepidation. "Did you try and cook?"  
  
Ash came into the kitchen, the sixteen year old mirror image of her mother. Her head was cocked to the side, letting her dark hair fall in waves to her waist. Her eyes were typical Cordelia, flashing with mischief.  
  
"I don't think a milkshake counts as cooking mom." She smiled.  
  
"You've made enough mess." Her mother commented and put her car keys on the hook next to the fridge.  
  
She hadn't changed much in the past fifteen years. She'd let her hair grow long again and let its natural colour shine through. She had small lines around her eyes but good moisturising and good makeup application kept her looking young. Her body was exactly the same due to kick boxing and Tai Kwan Do she practiced with Ash at the community centre down the streets on Wednesday and Sunday nights. She had a successful job as a Sex Therapist, of all things, much to the amusement of her daughter and she had a pretty apartment in the opposite side of town that she'd previously not been able to afford.  
  
Ash dismissed her complaints and came to hop onto the kitchen table. "Can I go out tonight?"  
  
"Where?" Cordelia asked suspiciously.  
  
"Just to see a film." She replied casually, biting into an apple.  
  
Cordelia pulled the apple out of her teeth. "Who with?"  
  
She replied with her mouth full. "Just Abby and Charlie."  
  
"As long as you're not too late." Cordelia told her and pulled vegetables out of the fridge.  
  
"Can we have pizza tonight?" Ash asked. "Please? We've been eating vegetables every night this week."  
  
Cordelia sighed and put the vegetables back in the fridge. "I suppose so."  
  
In the first few years since she'd ran away, Cordelia had found it difficult to look after herself and Ashleigh so generally she went hungry in order to feed her daughter.  
  
Eventually she found a decent enough apartment and got a job as a receptionist until she had enough money to apply to night school and get her qualifications to be a sex therapist.  
  
Ashleigh had known about Cordelia's powers from an early age, she'd never hid them from her, although she believed her mom was a witch rather than a demon. Cordelia felt it better that her daughter not know about the existence of demons. Although she stopped getting the visions a couple of weeks after she'd moved out of the Hyperion, she still had the demon strength and the ability to levitate. As of yet, Ash had no powers of her own although she did desperately want to levitate. The only thing Cordelia had not been truthful about was Angel and Connor. Ash had been told that her father was not interested and her brother was dead. Cordelia supposed this was partly true. After leaving Angel she changed her second name to Smith, the most common one she could think of at the time. She didn't want him looking for her; she couldn't deal with her own guilt, never mind his.  
  
"Ham and pineapple?" Ash asked, picking up the phone.  
  
Cordelia nodded, absentminded, she was thinking of one of the couples she'd seen today.  
  
"It'll be thirty minutes."  
  
"I'll be in my office for a while. Call me when it gets here."  
  
"Okay." Ash agreed, going back to the television.  
  
They ate pizza and then Ash went to get ready to go to the cinema.  
  
Cordelia went and took a bath and then got into bed early.  
  
She idly watched a black and white film but ended up drifting off to sleep.  
  
"Mom!" Ash screamed, entering the apartment.  
  
Cordelia was instantly out of bed and into the hallway. "What's wrong? What happened?"  
  
Ash was trembling. "There's someone outside. He just fell from the sky. I think he's hurt."  
  
Cordelia grabbed her coat and threw it on over her night clothes.  
  
"Show me." She grabbed a flashlight and followed Ash out of the door.  
  
They ran down the street until Ash stopped and pointed at a shape on the floor.  
  
Cordelia knelt down next to him and turned him over. He was dirty and wearing rags. He looked to be about seventeen or eighteen with floppy brown hair.  
  
"Can you hear me?" She asked him and shook his shoulder gently.  
  
"Is he..?" Ash began.  
  
"No." Cordelia told her firmly. "I can feel him breathing."  
  
"Do we need an ambulance?"  
  
She shook her head. "No, we need to get him inside. Help me?"  
  
Ash bent down and they both lifted him, straining with the effort.  
  
He began to stir as they took him inside.  
  
"Put him on the couch." Cordelia told Ash. "And then get some warm water and towels."  
  
For once Ash put up no complaint.  
  
Cordelia smoothed back the boy's hair and noticed for the first time the bruises on his face. Something in his face was strikingly familiar. The jaw bone perhaps or the eyebrows. She wasn't sure.  
  
Ash came back with the water and towels and placed them beside Cordelia.  
  
"Go and get ready for bed honey." Cordelia told her.  
  
Ash was about to protest but the look on her mother's face stopped her.  
  
Cordelia wet one of the towels and started to wipe the dirt off his face. There was a little dried blood in his hairline so she wiped that off too.  
  
"Who?" He managed to murmur.  
  
"It's okay; I'm here to help you." She told him. "Just lie still while I clean you up."  
  
He suddenly shot up and had a knife to her throat within seconds.  
  
Her eyes flashed. "Relax; I'm not going to hurt you."  
  
His eyes narrowed. "I don't know you."  
  
"I don't know you either." She told him calmly. "Which might be a good reason to get the knife away from my throat."  
  
He looked at her for a moment and then lowered it. "Who are you?"  
  
"My name's Cordelia." She told him and began wiping the dirt from his face again.  
  
"What's your name?"  
  
"I don't know." He admitted. "Where I used to live nobody ever knew me so I never knew what my name was."  
  
"How sad." She murmured. "Where did you used to live?"  
  
"In a hell dimension."  
  
Her hand froze. "A hell dimension?"  
  
He nodded. "I lived there with my father but he died when I was very young. I think he used to call me Ben, but it's a long time ago."  
  
"What was your father's name?" Cordelia asked, her voice trembling, images of baby Connor going through the portal in Holtz's arms still fresh in her memory after all the years.  
  
"Dad." He told her.  
  
She relaxed and smiled. "Of course."  
  
"I'm only kidding." He told her with a boyish smile. "He had a name. It was Daniel."  
  
Cordelia swallowed back tears. "Daniel Holtz?"  
  
He nodded. "He was my father."  
  
Cordelia fainted.  
  
When she awoke Ash was shouting at the boy frantically. "You've killed my mother!" She shrieked.  
  
"Calm down." Cordelia urged, sitting up. "I'm still here."  
  
Ash turned and threw her arms around her mother. "I thought he'd killed you."  
  
"Are you okay?" He asked, looking at her over Ash's shoulder.  
  
She nodded, unable to keep her eyes off him.  
  
"I need you to come somewhere with me, okay?"  
  
Ash pulled out of her mother's arms. "Where?"  
  
"It doesn't concern you honey, I need you to stop here for me, okay?"  
  
She nodded.  
  
Cordelia stood up and gestured for the boy to stand up also.  
  
"I'm going to name you, okay?" She told him. "I can't keep calling you Oi."  
  
He nodded. "Okay."  
  
"Connor, you're Connor." She told him.  
  
"I like that name."  
  
She got Connor in her car and began driving across town, her old neighbourhood still strikingly familiar.  
  
She pulled up outside the hotel and took a couple of deep breaths.  
  
"Where are we?" He asked.  
  
"With friends." She told him and turned off the ignition. "Come on."  
  
She walked through the doors and her breath caught, everything was the same.  
  
"Hello?" She called out calmly.  
  
She was fine, she could do this. "Is anyone here?"  
  
She walked across to the counter and looked at the photograph in the black frame. The Angel Investigations team.  
  
"Angel Investigations, we help the helpless." Fred's cheery voice came from the office and she poked her head around the door.  
  
"Hi Fred."  
  
Her eyes widened and her head disappeared.  
  
An older looking Faith and Wes cam back out with her.  
  
Faith came rushing to her to hug her.  
  
"Cor girl, we missed you." She hugged her fiercely.  
  
Cordelia had tears in her eyes and hugged her old friend back. "I missed you too."  
  
"Cordy." Wes said his voice hoarse.  
  
Faith let go of her so Wes could wrap his arms around her. "You're still a sight for sore eyes."  
  
She leaned her head into his neck. "You too Wes."  
  
"Where have you been?" Fred asked as she came to hug her.  
  
"Around." Cordelia replied simply. "I need your help."  
  
"Of course." Faith told her and looked behind her. "Who's your friend?"  
  
Cordelia looked behind her and gestured for Connor to come forwards. "I found him an hour ago, I think he's Connor."  
  
Wes looked completely bowled over. "Are you sure?"  
  
She shook her head. "No, but I know he was brought up by Holtz in a demon dimension so that's playing my way."  
  
Wes and Fred went to talk to Connor.  
  
"Are you okay?" Faith asked her, the night Connor was taken still fresh in her mind too, as it was for all of them. "How long has it been? Fifteen, sixteen years?"  
  
Cordelia nodded. "After the first five I was ready to come back, I missed you all, but I guess I'd left it too long. I couldn't bear it if you'd have all hated me or thrown me out. So I never came back, I set up a new life."  
  
"How is Ashleigh?" Faith asked, fascinated by the fact she was with her friend again after so many years.  
  
"She's sixteen, a holy terror!" Cordelia smiled. "She's doing well."  
  
"Does she know about us?"  
  
Cordelia shook her head regretfully. "If I'd have told her about you then she'd have wanted to come and see you. I guess I didn't want that."  
  
"Does she know about Angel?"  
  
Cordelia shook her head again. "No, there'd be too may questions. She knows she had a father and a brother but I told her they weren't in the picture. It seemed the right thing to do at the time. She was only four or five when she first asked me. It would have been too complicated."  
  
Faith nodded, staring at her. "You've hardly aged, like another person I know around here."  
  
Cordelia gulped. "Is he here?"  
  
She shook her head. "He's out on a case with Gunn; he shouldn't be long if you want to wait."  
  
Unknown to Cordelia Angel had had a rough fifteen years. When Cordelia had walked out he'd lost everyone. His son was already gone and Cordelia had taken his heart with her. For the first few years he spent his time searching for them and nothing else. But to no avail. It was only a couple of years ago that he'd started to get involved in business again and go out on cases. His room was a shrine to his family, photos of them covered the walls and some of Cordelia's clothes still hung in the closet. He'd only just given up hope that they'd return and now they had.  
  
"No, I've got to get home to Ash." Cordelia told her. "I only came to see if you could find a spell or something to tell us if he is Connor. I need to know for sure before I do anything."  
  
Faith nodded and Wes and Fred came back to join them. "Thank you. I, uh, I didn't know what else to do."  
  
"Don't be a stranger okay?" Fred made her promise.  
  
She nodded and smiled. "Come on Connor."  
  
They left the hotel.  
  
"I can't believe we've seen Cordelia again, and after all this time." Fred said, more to herself than anyone else.  
  
"She looks good." Wes added.  
  
The more perceptive Faith added. "She looks lonely." 


	3. Chapter Three

Title: Family: Heartache in LA  
  
Author: victoriamartynne  
  
Rating: R  
  
Disclaimer: I own nothing!  
  
Spoilers: None, I think!  
  
Summary: Sequel to Family: Back to Sunnydale, Family: Forward to LA, Family: Return to Sunnydale, Family: On to LA and Family: Wedding in LA. In the aftermath of Cordelia and Angel's wedding, their happiness is ruined by one man from Angel's past determined to ruin their lives forever.  
  
Cordelia made Connor a bed up on the couch and went to kiss Ash's head before taking her coat off and getting into bed. She opened the cupboard next to her bed and pulled out the photograph of Angel and Connor she kept there. The tears began to fall. It was him, she knew it was. It had to be. Her baby boy was back.  
  
Angel was distraught at having missed her. And Connor. He insisted on going through every single book before he even considered going to sleep.  
  
"What about a spell to reveal one's history?" Wes suggested, having volunteered to spend the night searching with him.  
  
"It could work." Angel supposed and put down his book.  
  
"The only thing is is that it reveals it to the person in question. That could be painful for him."  
  
"But it's the only thing we've got." Angel argued.  
  
Wes went to call Cordelia as soon as dawn broke while Angel informed everyone else of what they'd found.  
  
As soon as Cordelia had got off the phone she woke Connor and they went back to the Hyperion. She left a note telling Ash that she'd be back before lunch; it was a Saturday so she doubted Ash would be up before she got home anyway.  
  
Cordelia felt nerves tighten in her stomach as soon as she saw Angel, he was exactly the same as she had remembered and the feeling she got when he stood close to her was the same one she'd felt all those years ago. Despite the urge she felt to be near him she kept her distance, there would be time for recriminations later.  
  
"Are you sure about this Connor?" Wes asked.  
  
He nodded. "I need to know."  
  
"Very well then, sit down in the middle of the circle, it shouldn't take long." He indicated to the circle of sand that had been drawn on the lobby floor.  
  
"At least it's not blood this time." Angel told Cordelia.  
  
She smiled slightly, her heart fluttering. "That was murder to get off."  
  
They turned to watch as Wes began to chant.  
  
Gradually Connor's eyes began to close and his head drifted down to his chest.  
  
Wes stopped chanting and dropped a vial of potion onto the floor at Connor's feet, causing a cloud of purple smoke to rise and enter Connor's mouth.  
  
"He'll now be shown his life through a series of visions. Perhaps like the ones you used to experience." He told Cordelia.  
  
"Will they be painful?" Faith asked.  
  
He shook his head. "No, he'll not feel a thing. Perhaps we should leave before he wakes up, I'm sure you'll want to be alone with him."  
  
"No, I want you here." Cordelia told them. "That is, if you don't mind."  
  
They all shook their heads and stayed where they were.  
  
Connor came out of the spell and his head came back up from his chest.  
  
His eyes rested on Cordelia and Angel.  
  
"You told me you were my mother." He told Cordelia.  
  
Cordelia looked like she'd been slapped. "I am your mother."  
  
"You looked after me, you weren't my mother!" He spat. "I should have remembered, my father always told me about you two! You aren't my mother. You let me get kidnapped, my father saved me! Your stupid spell lied to me! Darla was my mother and Daniel was my father! They were the ones that loved me."  
  
Cordelia stepped forwards. "We didn't lie to you honey, Darla was your biological mother but I was the one who loved you and looked after you until Holtz, Daniel, kidnapped you and took you to the hell dimension. You were our baby, mine and Angel's."  
  
"I was never yours and I never will be yours. My family is dead!" He shouted. "You're nobody to me!"  
  
He ran out of the hotel into the sunlight. Angel made to follow him but Faith and Gunn stopped him.  
  
Cordelia was rapidly losing control, tears trickling down her face. Buffy made her way to her.  
  
"He's confused, that's all." Buffy insisted, grabbing her arms. "Once he figures everything out he'll be fine."  
  
Angel came to stand close to Cordelia, wishing he could touch her. Needing to touch her.  
  
Impulsively she turned and flung her arms around him, crying out as the familiarity washed over her.  
  
"I'm his mother!" She sobbed, clutching his shoulders.  
  
"I know you are." He soothed. "He'll realise it when he's less confused."  
  
"I missed him all these years and now he comes back and he doesn't want to know me. I loved him so much and he doesn't even remember. He never had the chance to remember. I let him get taken and I guess this is my punishment."  
  
He pulled back so he could look at her. "I never for one moment blamed you for what happened. I always wanted to tell you that but I could never find you."  
  
Everyone sensed the conversation was about to get personal so they discretely left.  
  
"I searched for you for years but I could never find you. I always wanted to hold you in my arms and tell you that I loved you and didn't blame you but I couldn't find you." His voice was trembling. "I lost everything the day you walked out of the door. And I know it was my fault. But when I saw you standing in the doorway yesterday I was so happy and then you told me about Connor and I was in heaven. He'll come around but there's one thing I need you to do for me."  
  
She raised her head. "Anything."  
  
He smiled at her. "Bring Ashleigh to see me."  
  
Cordelia gulped. "I'll try, but she doesn't know about you, or Connor. I'll tell her and then see if she wants to see you. Is that okay?"  
  
"There's nothing more you can do."  
  
She smiled and wiped her face with the backs of her hands. "I'll go tell her then."  
  
He nodded. "Be quick, I'm dying to see her."  
  
Cordelia entered the apartment and called out to her daughter.  
  
"Ash, baby, I need to talk to you."  
  
"I'm in the kitchen." Came the response.  
  
Cordelia hung her jacket on the coat hanger and went into the kitchen. "What are you doing? You're normally still in bed at this time. You do know it's only ten am?"  
  
"I'm cooking." She replied, stirring something in a bowl. "And yes, I know what time it is."  
  
"Wonders will never cease." She replied, rolling her eyes at the mess her daughter was making. "Can you come into the living room for a minute; I need to talk to you. It's important."  
  
Reluctantly she put down the bowl and swung her hair over the shoulder. She was instantly contrite. "Have you been crying?"  
  
Cordelia brushed it off and put an arm around Ash. "It was nothing, now sit down." Ash sat.  
  
"It's about your father." Cordelia began. "He never abandoned me, in a way I abandoned him. Your brother, Connor, was kidnapped by someone very bad."  
  
"A demon?" Ash asked.  
  
Cordelia's eyes widened. "How do you know about.? Never mind. He wasn't a demon but he was kidnapped into a demon dimension. You were one at the time, he was nearly two. This was about fifteen and a half years ago. Losing him nearly killed me, probably both of us. I don't know, I didn't stay. There was a lot of shouting and I left. With you."  
  
She paused to see how it was sinking in. As of yet she seemed okay with it.  
  
"Then the other day you found that boy, he's your brother. He's Connor. He's back from the hell dimension. I don't know how he got out but he's back and that's all that matters. I always believed that he was dead when he was taken, but obviously he survived. I took him to see your father and our friends. I hadn't seen any of them since I walked out with you all those years ago. Your father, he wants to see you."  
  
"Okay." She instantly replied.  
  
"You don't have to make the decision now and it's okay if you don't want to, nobody is going to force you."  
  
"Did you love him?" She asked, her curiosity piqued.  
  
"Wait here." Cordelia told her and went to get the box of photographs she kept under her bed.  
  
She sat back down and handed her the bunch of her and Angel.  
  
"Wow, he's really handsome." Ash commented.  
  
"There's another thing about your dad that I need to tell you but it doesn't seem as hard as I first thought now you seem to know about demons."  
  
"He's a demon?"  
  
"A vampire. But don't worry, he's not evil, he has a soul. The only vampire in the world to be given his soul back." She neglected to tell her why he got his soul back, that could wait. "He's a very good and caring man."  
  
Ash out the photos down. "I want to meet him. And Connor."  
  
Cordelia smiled and kissed her forehead. "Connor might not be ready but your dad is dying to see you. Are you sure?"  
  
She nodded and they both stood up.  
  
"Let's go." Ash urged eagerly.  
  
Cordelia couldn't stop Ash from pushing in front and entering the hotel first.  
  
Cordelia let the door close behind her and stood resting against it as she saw Ash run across the lobby to hug her father. Angel's face was one of pure joy as his daughter hurtled herself into his arms. Cordelia put a hand over her mouth to block the sob of happiness from leaving her throat. Tears had already escaped her eyes and were making their way down her cheeks.  
  
She could see Faith, Wes, Gunn, Lorne, Fred and Buffy all stood transfixed behind him.  
  
Angel was speechless at the force of his daughter's affection; she was wrapped around his neck like a limpet.  
  
"God Ashleigh, I missed you so much." He murmured. "And look at the size of you, you were so small the last time I saw you!"  
  
"I grew daddy." She told him, not realising what she had called him.  
  
It was too much for Cordelia and sobs escaped her, overwhelming her. She sank to the floor with her head in her hands.  
  
Lorne came across to her. "It's good to see you muffin."  
  
He put his arm around her and let her cry into his jacket.  
  
"Mom?" Ash pulled herself out of Angel's embrace to ask. "Are you sad?"  
  
She shook her head, still not showing her face.  
  
Ash came across to her. "Then you're happy?"  
  
She lifted her tear streaked face. "I will be."  
  
She stroked Ash's face with her fingertips.  
  
"Who are those people?" Ash whispered causing a laugh from Cordelia.  
  
"Come on, I'll introduce you." She stood up and pulled her daughter with her.  
  
Only then did everyone realise how alike the two women were.  
  
Cordelia turned to Lorne. "This is Uncle Lorne, he is a friendly demon and he helped look after you when you were born."  
  
"She knows about demons?" Angel asked, from the other side of the lobby.  
  
"Apparently." Cordelia replied. "She dropped that one on me about an hour ago."  
  
"That's what colour I wanted my bedroom last year." Ash told her mom, pointing at Lorne's face causing the gang to smirk at the Cordy-ness of the statement.  
  
She turned and walked across the lobby, Ash following her.  
  
"This is Uncle Wes and Aunt Faith." Cordelia smiled. "Very good friends of mine. By the way, did you two ever..?"  
  
Faith caught on before Wes did and waved her left hand in the air, showing off a thin silver band.  
  
"I guess I missed that." Cordelia replied, almost sadly.  
  
"Pleased to meet you." Ash stuck her hand out to Faith and then winced when she shook it. "Wow, strong."  
  
"You might want to avoid Aunt Buffy then." Cordelia told her and pointed out Buffy, who waved. "And these two are Aunt Fred and Uncle Gunn."  
  
"Cool name." Ash commented. "Is it a nickname?"  
  
"Nah." Good replied boyishly, blushing slightly under Ash's gaze. "Just my second name."  
  
"His first name's Charles." Fred supplied helpfully.  
  
"Ouch!" She replied, pulling a face.  
  
"Hey!" Gunn objected at Ash's retreating back as she went to sit down next to her father.  
  
"Can I see your vampire face?" She asked.  
  
"No." Angel told her immediately.  
  
Cordelia went to sit awkwardly on the round couch in the middle of the lobby. Buffy came to sit with her.  
  
"Anything else I missed out on?" Cordelia asked with a sigh.  
  
"Well," Buffy began. "Spike was given his soul back. Dawn is married to a lawyer and she's in London. Fred and Gunn are married too; they shared the ceremony with Wes and Faith, a double wedding. Willow's still with Tara, they adopted a baby boy four years ago. Will's working for NASA, we're all proud of our astronaut. Xander and Anya split up but they're still good friends, they're both single right now so who knows?"  
  
"And Angel?" Cordelia prompted.  
  
"He lived like a hermit for the first ten or so years. He tried to find you so much but he never could. If you're asking if there was ever anyone else then there wasn't. There were only you. There only ever will be. His room upstairs is a shrine to you."  
  
Cordelia had a look of relief but also remorse on her face.  
  
"He understands why you did it, you know." Buffy told her. "He knows you couldn't bear to be here without Connor. He knows he hurt you by the things he said and the way he acted after it happened."  
  
"I needed my space." Cordelia added. "By the time I realised I had too much space I was too scared to come back."  
  
Buffy squeezed Cordelia's hand gently. "It's okay, you're back now."  
  
Cordelia turned back to Ashleigh.  
  
"She's beautiful, she looks just like you." Buffy commented.  
  
"Everyone says that but I don't see it, I can see Angel in her."  
  
"Mom, can I?" Ashe's voice startled her out of her conversation.  
  
"Can you what?"  
  
"Stop here tonight." Ash repeated. "Dad says you can too, if you want."  
  
Angel's face broke out in a smile as he heard her call him dad.  
  
"I don't know, that might not be such a."  
  
"Please mom!" Ash begged. "We can order pizza and get to know each other and it will be so much fun!"  
  
Seeing the eager look on Ash's face Cordelia relented. "Okay, but remember you've got school in the morning."  
  
Ash pulled a face and got involved in her conversation with Angel again. 


	4. Chapter Four

Title: Family: Heartache in LA  
  
Author: victoriamartynne  
  
Rating: R  
  
Disclaimer: I own nothing!  
  
Spoilers: None, I think!  
  
Summary: Sequel to Family: Back to Sunnydale, Family: Forward to LA, Family: Return to Sunnydale, Family: On to LA and Family: Wedding in LA. In the aftermath of Cordelia and Angel's wedding, their happiness is ruined by one man from Angel's past determined to ruin their lives forever.  
  
"What do you do anyway Cordelia?" Wes asked a couple of hours later as they sat in the lobby eating pizza.  
  
Cordelia was about to reply but was beaten to it.  
  
"Mom tells people how to have sex." Ash interrupted, a gleam in her eye that Angel could already recognise as one that Cordelia used to have.  
  
Wes almost choked on his slice of pizza.  
  
Cordelia blushed. "I do not!"  
  
"Then explain to them what you do. I had to when I was in tenth grade and my teacher asked me what my mom did."  
  
Cordelia ignored her daughter. "I'm a sex therapist; I help people with their relationship issues."  
  
Faith raised an eyebrow. "Interesting choice of vocation Cor."  
  
She smiled at the way her old nickname had just slipped off Faith's tongue.  
  
"Excuse me." Cordelia told everyone and went in the direction of the bathroom. Instead she slipped outside and went to sit in the courtyard. It was a warm, balmy night and she slipped off her cardigan now she wasn't in the coolness of the hotel.  
  
She took a few deep breaths, calming her emotions. Being around them again was so familiar and yet so difficult.  
  
She heard the door open behind her and sensed him before she saw him.  
  
"After all these years I still know when it's you when I can't see you." She told him, turning her head slightly towards him. "How do you do that?"  
  
"I don't know." He sat down next to her.  
  
"Sometimes I thought I could sense you when I was sat in my apartment but I knew I had to be wrong, now I can feel that feeling again I know that I just wanted to be sensing you, I wasn't actually sensing you."  
  
"I guess that makes sense. Some times I thought I could see you or smell you when you weren't there."  
  
She smiled. "At least it wasn't just me."  
  
He reached out and gently took her hand in his, relaxing when she let him.  
  
"She looks just like you." Angel told her, meaning Ash.  
  
"That's what Buffy told me. I don't see it."  
  
He looked at her in amazement. "She's the mirror image of you. The way she acts, the way she looks, the things she says. She's you but younger. Absolutely perfect."  
  
"I wish you could have seen her growing up."  
  
"Was she good for you? I mean, was she any trouble?" He felt a little awkward, as he should know these things, as her father.  
  
Cordelia shook her head. "No, she was good. I can remember one Christmas, I broke my arm, and I couldn't wrap her presents properly. She caught me at it and helped me without looking at what I'd bought her. She was such a cute kid."  
  
"I wish I could have been there." He sighed.  
  
She squeezed his hand. "I wish you could have been too."  
  
"Did she ever have, you know, a father figure?"  
  
She shook her head. "No, there's never been anyone else, only you."  
  
He nodded. "In a way that makes me sad but also damn happy."  
  
She reached under her shirt and pulled out a chain. On it hung her engagement and wedding ring. "I always kept these next to my heart and I was always faithful to you. I couldn't not be. Ash always bugged me to go out with men but I always brushed her off. I never told her why. She thought you weren't interested in us."  
  
"Where did she get that idea?" He asked her.  
  
"I told her that." She explained sheepishly. "I didn't want her to go running off and finding you, not until I was ready, or I suppose never. When I first told her that she was very young and she never asked again. In a way I wish she had wanted to run off and find you, that way we could have met again before now."  
  
"It doesn't matter, you're here now." He told her.  
  
"Fifteen years later." She mused. "Here I am, thirty six years old, and there you are still looking twenty eight. Can you say Mrs Robinson?"  
  
He smiled, for once understanding her modern reference. "If it makes it any easier, you look the same as you did fifteen years ago."  
  
She rested her head on his shoulder. "You're a charmer."  
  
"Always have been." He gently brushed his lips with her hair.  
  
She sighed.  
  
"What?"  
  
"If I told you it would sound stupid."  
  
"Try me."  
  
"That's right, I always could tell you anything." She mused. "I was thinking that if I close my eyes I could be back fifteen years in seconds. This feels just the way it did all those years ago."  
  
"I get that. Sometimes I can see our wedding night so clearly that I think it will kill me because I can't have you and then sometimes it's so blurry that I think it will kill me because I want to treasure the memories so much and I'm scared I'll forget."  
  
"Maybe you should forget." A voice threatened from behind them.  
  
They looked at each other for a millisecond and then turned together to see Connor stood there with a crossbow pointed at his father's heart.  
  
"Connor." Cordelia warned and stood up slowly, finding the crossbow aimed at her own heart. "You don't want to do this."  
  
"Don't tell me what I do and don't want to do!" He shouted, but they could see his arm was shaking.  
  
"Mom?" Ash poked her head around the door and then saw Connor and the crossbow.  
  
"What's going on?" She looked terrified.  
  
"Go back inside honey." Cordelia told her.  
  
"Mom?" Connor asked. "You have a daughter?"  
  
Cordelia nodded. "That's your sister, Ashleigh."  
  
He shook his head. "I don't have a sister."  
  
"Yes you do." Angel told him.  
  
He shook his head again. "Stop lying to me!"  
  
"He's not lying!" Ash interrupted, still not moving.  
  
"Ash, go!" Cordelia shouted.  
  
"I was born a year after you. I'm sixteen now, nearly seventeen, so you must be eighteen. I've seen a photo of you today; you were a really cute baby." She told her, shrugging. "But then again, I was too."  
  
Connor had a confused look on his face.  
  
"Here, take a look." She offered him the photo that she'd kept and put in her pocket.  
  
"Ash!" Cordelia warned again.  
  
She ignored Cordelia and moved towards Connor, reaching out a hand to give him the photograph.  
  
She stood next to him, making both Angel and Cordelia nervous, while he looked at it.  
  
"That's me?" He asked, pointing to one of the babies. He was in Cordelia's arms.  
  
"And that's me." Ash pointed. "The cute one."  
  
He smiled slightly. "I guess."  
  
"Connor, do you want to come inside?" Angel offered.  
  
He shook his head and tightened his grip on the crossbow. "Maybe you were my father, but she can't be my mother!"  
  
"Why not?" Ash asked, seemingly relaxed in the situation.  
  
"She didn't give birth to me."  
  
"Well, technically she didn't give birth to me either, she was in an accident and I was cut out."  
  
Cordelia closed her eyes and shook her head slightly at the way her daughter was acting.  
  
Angel smirked slightly and realised Cordelia still had hold of his hand.  
  
"Just because you don't give birth to someone doesn't mean you can't be their mother." Angel pointed out.  
  
Connor raised the crossbow again, aiming at Angel's throat.  
  
"Hey!" Ash complained. "Don't aim that at my father!"  
  
She knocked the crossbow downwards. Startled, Connor pulled the trigger, sending an arrow shooting into Cordelia's forearm.  
  
"Sorry!" Ash exclaimed.  
  
Cordelia gasped in pain. "Thanks sweetie."  
  
"Are you okay?" Connor asked tentatively as light began to pour out of the wound around the arrow.  
  
"What's happening?" Angel asked her.  
  
She shook her head. "I have no idea!"  
  
She began to look panicked until the light finished flowing and formed a ball above her head. It suddenly shot into Connor's open mouth.  
  
Seeing the light outside the gang came running outside. They stopped at the doorway, bewildered by what was happening.  
  
"Connor?" Ash tried.  
  
His eyes had turned white.  
  
Angel stepped forwards and dragged Ash back behind them.  
  
Cordelia pulled the arrow out of her arm with a cry of pain. Angel quickly bandaged it with the bottom of his shirt all the while keeping an eye on Connor.  
  
With a scream, the light left Connor and exploded into dust in the air.  
  
"What happened?" Cordelia asked him.  
  
He fell to his knees. "Mom?"  
  
Cordelia's eyes widened and she stepped forwards to him. She knelt down next to him.  
  
"What did you see?" She asked quietly.  
  
He raised his eyes to look at her. "You and Dad and Ash. You loved us, I could see it. And feel it. Daniel lied to me, you are my mother."  
  
The words brought tears to Cordelia's eyes and Connor fell into her arms crying. Cordelia took a few deep breaths, feeling tears escape her eyes. Slowly she raised her arms around her son's back and hugged him to her.  
  
"I love you so much." She whispered. "I always loved you so much."  
  
He nodded. "I know that now."  
  
Still he did not let go of her.  
  
Angel stepped forwards, aching to be included.  
  
Ash sensed it and went to wrap her arms around his waist.  
  
Everyone discretely left the doorway and left them alone.  
  
Connor eventually stopped crying.  
  
"Feel better?" Cordelia asked him, smoothing back his hair from his forehead.  
  
He nodded, still clinging to her.  
  
"Do you want to go inside? I can introduce everyone to you." Ash offered.  
  
"Listen to you." Cordelia pointed out. "You only just met them tonight!"  
  
She shrugged. "I learn fast."  
  
She took Connor's arm and led him into the hotel.  
  
Angel stopped her from going inside. "Will you stay with me tonight?"  
  
She understood he hidden meaning of the question. "Yes." 


	5. Chapter Five

Title: Family: Heartache in LA  
  
Author: victoriamartynne  
  
Rating: R  
  
Disclaimer: I own nothing!  
  
Spoilers: None, I think!  
  
Summary: Sequel to Family: Back to Sunnydale, Family: Forward to LA, Family: Return to Sunnydale, Family: On to LA and Family: Wedding in LA. In the aftermath of Cordelia and Angel's wedding, their happiness is ruined by one man from Angel's past determined to ruin their lives forever.  
  
While Faith bandaged Cordelia's arm properly, Angel, Connor and Ash sat with Wes, Gunn, Buffy, Fred and Lorne. Ash was at close to Connor, almost as if a bond had formed between them already.  
  
Angel was looking very proud of his children and very happy.  
  
Every so often he'd glance at Cordelia, as if to check she was still there but she reassured him with a smile each time.  
  
"Did you get a chance to sort things out?" Faith asked her, noticing the glances Angel kept shooting their way.  
  
She shrugged. "I suppose so. We talked and then Connor interrupted us. But in a good way. He's very confused and I think he's wise beyond his years. He knows that we're not normal and that he's perhaps not normal himself. I think Ash will help him. She seems like she's handling things the best."  
  
"Are you staying here tonight?" Faith asked, taping the bandage in place and sitting down next to her.  
  
"Yeah, Ash wanted to and now I think it would be best for Connor." She considered telling her about Angel's question but decided not to. "That is, if there are enough rooms for us."  
  
Faith laughed. "Every single room in this hotel is now habitable. We even have our own nightclub."  
  
"Nightclub?"  
  
"Yeah, Lorne bugged Angel about turning the ballroom in the east wing into a new Caritas." Faith explained.  
  
"What happened to the old Caritas?"  
  
Faith winced. "We destroyed it again."  
  
"Great, we're talking about destruction!" Buffy exclaimed and sat down on the other side of Cordelia.  
  
"It wasn't really as exciting as it sounded." Cordelia told her.  
  
"Do you stay here now or do you have your own place?" Cordelia asked Faith.  
  
"We still have Wes's old apartment but we've got a room here too, I think we'll stop here tonight. It's getting late."  
  
Buffy looked at her watch. "Four am!"  
  
"I should probably get Ash to bed, she's got school tomorrow." Cordelia decided. "Not that she'll want to go. I'll feel mean making her go when she's just found a new family."  
  
"School isn't all that it's cracked up to be anyway. I never went and look how I turned out." Faith advised.  
  
Cordelia ignored her. "Ash, honey, you should go to bed."  
  
She turned and glared at her mom. "Like I'm a kid! I'm not tired."  
  
"I don't care." Cordelia pressed. "You've got school in the morning."  
  
"Yeah, 'cause I'm going!" Ash exclaimed.  
  
Gunn was looking between the two women in amusement.  
  
"You are going to school, you have mid-terms in a couple of weeks, and school is important right now." Cordelia insisted and stood up. "You're going to bed."  
  
Ash pulled a face but decided she couldn't win and stood up. "Are you ready for bed Connor?"  
  
"I suppose I could sleep." He supposed.  
  
Angel stood up also. "I can show you to your rooms."  
  
Cordelia said goodnight to everyone and followed Angel, Connor and Ash upstairs.  
  
Angel took them to the end of the second floor and pointed out rooms for them to use. He left discretely so Cordelia could say goodnight.  
  
"Ash, I'll get you up at six thirty and then you can be ready for school, I'll drop you off in the car seen as though you're not near the bus route." Cordelia told her. "Connor, do you want to come home with me tomorrow or stay here? I'll be taking the day off." Cordelia could see Ash about to complain about how she could have the day off and silenced her by raising a finger. "It's up to you. Or I could take you somewhere, a tour around the city maybe."  
  
"Can I decide in the morning?" He asked.  
  
She nodded. "Of course you can."  
  
She kissed her daughter's cheek and watched as she went into the room. She turned to her son. "Goodnight Connor."  
  
Much to her delight he leaned forward and hugged her before going into his own room.  
  
She walked down the hall to Angel's room and found him sat on the edge of the bed. He stood up when she went in.  
  
The room really was a shrine. Photos of herself, Ash and Connor covered the walls. Other than that it was exactly the same.  
  
"I'm glad you decided to stay." He told her, closing the distance between them slowly.  
  
"How could I not?"  
  
"I thought you might decide it would be too awkward and go home. Either that or asking you to stay would scare you off."  
  
She smiled at him. "Never."  
  
He closed the distance completely and touched her hair. "You let it grow long again, I like it."  
  
"Ash always says it makes me look like her older sister instead of her mom. Apparently all the other moms have permed short hair that's verging on grey." She murmured as his hand travelled to her cheek and then her neck.  
  
"You call her Ash, not Ashleigh, when did that happen?"  
  
"When she started school and everyone started calling her that." Cordelia replied, gasping as his lips met her neck in a small kiss. "I think she likes it better."  
  
"Are you nervous?" He asked, feeling her body tremble.  
  
She nodded slowly. "Terrified."  
  
"Why?" He asked, drawing circles on her shoulder with his fingers.  
  
She gulped. "It's been fifteen years since I've. you know."  
  
He nodded. "Same here."  
  
He rested his head against hers.  
  
She could feel the familiar swirl of emotions in her gut as she revelled in the intimacy they were experiencing once again.  
  
"I'll be gentle with you, I promise." He whispered before pressing his lips with hers.  
  
She kissed him back with all the longing and passion he was showing for her.  
  
Slowly he unbuttoned her shirt, letting it slip to the ground and unfastened her bra, slipping it off her shoulders and dropping it onto the floor. She stood shy before him for a moment before pulling his sweater over his head.  
  
"Are you sure?" He asked again.  
  
Slowly, she nodded and walked over to the bed. "I don't just want it, I need it."  
  
It was all he needed to know.  
  
Her pants and thong were off in seconds and she was laid on the bed in anticipation while he removed his own clothes. There was no shyness in her eyes as he scanned over her naked form, only love.  
  
He lowered himself next to her on the bed, resting a hand on her stomach. He kissed her gently. "I love you."  
  
"I love you too." She was trembling still.  
  
He let his fingers drift down her body, finding her ready and waiting for him. His gaze fell on the rings around her neck. "Put them on."  
  
Without asking any questions about what that might mean, she unfastened the chain and slipped the rings on her left hand.  
  
He rolled on top of her and started to kiss her neck and breasts.  
  
She moaned, his touch driving her over the edge, as it always used to.  
  
Nudging her legs apart he settled between them ready. Stroking her hair behind her ears he whispered his love for her again and then entered her. She arched her back to make penetration easier, after her years of celibacy.  
  
"Are you okay?" He checked.  
  
She nodded and began moving against him, urging him into movement.  
  
With each thrust he pushed into her gently driving her up until she climaxed. With each climax he rose to new heights, still not reaching it himself until he was satisfied he had pleased her enough.  
  
Only when they lay still afterwards, wrapped in each other's arms, did he realise she was crying.  
  
"Did I hurt you?" He asked, concerned.  
  
She shook her head. "I never thought I'd have this again."  
  
"I know baby, I didn't either." He kissed her tears away.  
  
"Do you think we could become a proper family again?" She asked. "Or do you think we're past being happy as a family?"  
  
"Anything can happen." He concluded. "If you want it enough."  
  
"I want it." She decided.  
  
Cordelia tiptoed down the hall in Angel's robe at six o clock the next morning.  
  
She opened Ash's door and saw her sleeping, the covers wrapped tight around her neck.  
  
She sat down next to her and brushed her hair off her face. "Baby, it's time to get up."  
  
She groaned.  
  
Cordelia smiled. "You've got school this morning. You need to get up."  
  
She opened her eyes. "What time is it?"  
  
"Six."  
  
"You told me you'd wake me at six thirty!" She complained.  
  
"This way you get time for breakfast." Cordelia reasoned and pulled the covers off her daughter's form.  
  
She complained loudly but went into the en suite to get a shower.  
  
Cordelia went into Connor's room next.  
  
He was already awake and so she sat down next to him. "What do you want to do today?"  
  
"I think I'd like to stop here with you and dad." He told her. "Will you stay?"  
  
"Of course I will. Ash has to go to school but she'll be back at four then we can go out or something." Cordelia told him. "If you want to go back to sleep you can, I've got to take Ash to school and then I'll be back."  
  
He nodded. "More sleep sounds good."  
  
She smiled and kissed him forehead. "I won't be long."  
  
She went to leave the room but he called her. "Mom?"  
  
She smiled. "Yeah?"  
  
"Come see me when you get back?" He asked, almost pleading.  
  
"Of course." 


	6. Chapter Six

Title: Family: Heartache in LA  
  
Author: victoriamartynne  
  
Rating: R  
  
Disclaimer: I own nothing!  
  
Spoilers: None, I think!  
  
Summary: Sequel to Family: Back to Sunnydale, Family: Forward to LA, Family: Return to Sunnydale, Family: On to LA and Family: Wedding in LA. In the aftermath of Cordelia and Angel's wedding, their happiness is ruined by one man from Angel's past determined to ruin their lives forever.  
  
She went back down the hall to Angel who was sat up in bed waiting for her. She climbed back in next to him and rested her head on his stomach.  
  
"I don't think Ash is too impressed about having to get up this early but Connor was already awake when I went in. He wants to spend the day with us here and I told him we'd take him out tonight when Ash gets home, is that okay? You didn't have plans?"  
  
"No." He smiled and kissed her head. "That sounds perfect."  
  
"Good, I was thinking maybe we could take them to the pier, Ash likes it there and I'm sure Connor's never seen anything like it."  
  
"That sounds like fun."  
  
"Really?"  
  
"Honey, as long as we're together we could be doing anything and I'd be happy."  
  
"Good to hear." A voice replied from the corner.  
  
"What the hell are you doing here?" Angel growled.  
  
Skip smiled. "You always do that, whereas the lovely Miss Chase here always hits me. Just to clarify things I'm not here to tell you you're going to die, just to protect myself."  
  
She smirked, remembering both times she'd hit him thinking he was telling her she was dying, which he was one of the times.  
  
"So what are you here for?" Angel demanded.  
  
"To give you a choice." Skip replied cryptically. "A chance to change your lives."  
  
"What kind of choice?" Cordelia asked, intrigued.  
  
"A chance to change history, to give yourselves the happiness you have now back then."  
  
"I don't get you." Cordelia told him, confused.  
  
"I'm sorry, what if I gave you the chance to go back in time? To change history? I can create it so that, by the powers bidding, you can go back to the day Connor was kidnapped so you can protect him and keep him with you. He would never have to experience the things he did whilst in that hell dimension. He could grow up happy and loved with you two and his sister."  
  
"What's the catch?" Angel asked.  
  
Skip smiled. "You're smart. The destiny that has been chosen for Ashleigh is that she grows up completely human. The destiny chosen for Connor is that he becomes a warrior. In order to change the order of events, the powers insist that Ashleigh sacrifice part of her humanity and inherit Cordelia's powers and become a seer for another warrior, already on his path. Connor, therefore, will stay completely human and live normally with you until his eighteenth birthday where he will have the choice of being a warrior for the powers."  
  
"Why do the powers want this to happen?" Cordelia asked.  
  
"There are more warriors than there are seers, Ashleigh would be more useful to them."  
  
"So, Ash would have to trade part of her humanity in order for Connor to live normally?" Cordelia clarified.  
  
Skip nodded.  
  
"We'd have to ask her." Angel told him.  
  
Skip shook his head. "You can't do that; the decision must be made on your own."  
  
"That's not fair." Cordelia argued. "We can't choose our daughter's life, whether or not she has powers."  
  
"If it helps you can tell her after you've made the decision and before your decision is put into action, Connor too, if you want."  
  
She shook her head. "I can't make that kind of decision without talking it over with her. She'd be sacrificing part of her humanity; I can't choose that for her."  
  
"You have to choose." Skip replied simply. "I'll give you half an hour, have you got any chips?"  
  
"Downstairs." Angel replied, wearily running a hand over his eyes.  
  
Cordelia sat down on the bed hard. "What do we do Angel, for the first time in years I'm completely lost."  
  
He put his arm around her. "We just have to think. What would Ash do?"  
  
"She'd want to give Connor back his childhood." Cordelia responded automatically, not thinking about what she was saying.  
  
"Then we do that." Angel decided.  
  
"What?" She exclaimed.  
  
"Look, we don't have time to go over and over this. You know her better than anyone in the whole world, if you say that's what she would do then that's what she'd do."  
  
Cordelia nodded. "I guess so, but what if I'm wrong?"  
  
"I trust you."  
  
"I'm glad someone does."  
  
"We can help her as she grows up, to manage her powers and to help the greater good."  
  
"She has always said she wants to levitate like I do." Cordelia supposed. "Maybe she'll get that chance."  
  
"You can still levitate?"  
  
"Sometimes it feels like I'm flying." Cordelia admitted.  
  
"Okay kids, the curiosity's killing me!" Skip interrupted, coming into the room. "What're you going to do?"  
  
"Didn't anyone tell you it's rude to interrupt?" Cordelia asked angrily, taking out her anxieties on him.  
  
"Touché." Skip responded. "Well?"  
  
"We want to turn back time." Angel told him. "That's our decision."  
  
Skip nodded. "You have two minutes before it is done."  
  
Cordelia jumped up and took of down the hall, Angel's robe flowing behind her.  
  
"Ash?" Cordelia shouted when she neared her room.  
  
She poked her head around the bathroom door. "What? Is there a fire or something?"  
  
"Sit down and listen to me, we don't have long." Cordelia ordered, as Angel joined them with Connor. "Your father and I have just been offered the chance to change history. To enable Connor to grow up with us, instead of the hell dimension."  
  
"Wow!" Ash exclaimed. "How cool is that?"  
  
Connor nodded. "I guess so."  
  
"The only condition is, you would have to receive powers in the future, you would become a seer, like I used to be and part demon, like I am."  
  
"You're part demon?"  
  
"Not the point right now, honey." Cordelia urged. "What would you want us to do?"  
  
"Change time, obviously! Connor would get to grow up with us, and I'd get to levitate! What did you decide? Have you decided?"  
  
Ash was stunned as her mother hugged her fiercely. "Thank God you said that."  
  
"You chose right!" She exclaimed, hugging Cordelia back.  
  
"Are you happy with our choice?" Angel asked Connor.  
  
He nodded, looking truly happy, and loved. "When does it happen?"  
  
"It happens now." Skip replied and clicked his fingers.  
  
Cordelia and Angel both gasped as their memories of the future entered their past bodies.  
  
Everyone turned to look at them.  
  
"Cordy, are you okay?" Faith asked.  
  
She nodded, not saying anything.  
  
A man came into the hotel. "I need you help!"  
  
Cordelia's eyes spun to Angel's. "Angel."  
  
"I know, go to Connor." He told her and went to the man.  
  
Cordelia went into the office and stood in the doorway, protecting Connor and Ashleigh.  
  
Everyone was looking at them like they'd lost their minds.  
  
Angel dragged the man outside and on cue Holtz entered the hotel and crept to the office.  
  
He didn't count on Cordelia waiting for him. With a high kick she sent him flying backwards. "Not going to work this time!"  
  
He looked at her from the floor, stunned. "What..?"  
  
She dragged him to his feet and punched him.  
  
"I sense major evil." Lorne informed them, sitting back in his chair and sipping his wine as if Cordelia wasn't pulling the hell out of a human in front of their eyes.  
  
"Cor, what are you doing?" Buffy asked, standing up from the table.  
  
"I know what I'm doing!" She told Buffy, knocking Holtz to the floor again.  
  
Spike caught a look at his face. "Pet, sit back down, human or not, he deserves a kicking."  
  
"You know him?" She asked.  
  
"Vampire hunter turned bad, hunting Angelus and me across half of Europe 'cause Angelus butchered his family." Spike told her. "Him being here now isn't going to end well."  
  
"I see that." Faith commented as Cordelia brought out a stake and shoved it through Holtz's beating heart.  
  
Angel came into the hotel again, blood on his hands. He came running to Cordelia and caught her in his arms.  
  
"It's over." She gasped. "They're safe."  
  
"Did we miss something?" Fred asked everyone, who all were staring at Angel and Cordelia.  
  
"I think perhaps we did." Wes decided. "Wine anyone?"  
  
The End 


End file.
